Logic Studio apps Type in Tempo in Mainstage

M

md_sanders

Logician
I play soft synths with occasional loops using Mainstage 2 and I need to be able to set the tempo exactly as in type in 75 for example then type in another number for a different song.
The only way I can find to do that is to go back to the edit menu and manually change it in the parameter window.
Is there a way I can assign an input box I can type in to link to this command so I can run a fullscreen live window and simply type in the tempo?

It seems like a bit of an oversight for such a versatile product that something as important as tempo can't be altered this precisely from the full screen view?
At the moment the only control I can use is tap tempo assigned to a button or a dial, both of which are OK but I need to be able to quickly flick between precise prearranged bpms and at the moment I have to flick out of full screen or perform and back to edit which is not ideal.
 
From the manual:

"When you open the concert you plan to use in your performance, MainStage uses the tempo for the concert you set in the Concert Inspector. If the "Get tempo from MIDI input" checkbox is selected, MainStage uses incoming MIDI beat clock to set the tempo. For information about setting and changing the tempo in a concert, see Using Tempo in a MainStage Concert.

If you select a patch or set with its own tempo setting, the tempo changes to the new setting. You can also change the tempo in real time while you perform using the Tap Tempo feature, either by pressing Control-T repeatedly at the tempo you want to use, by clicking the Tap Tempo button in the toolbar repeatedly, or using a screen control mapping to the Tap Tempo action."

It seems that you should be able to, using a screen control mapped to tap tempo. How exactly, I couldn't say. I don't program Mainstage (well, unless it's a simple shell concert used to allow other 3d party DAWs to run Logic instruments). Check out the Groove 3 website. They have some good Mainstage tutorials that should cover this.
 
Thanks for that George, I've already mapped the tap tempo function to a dial which works to some extent but is not precise enough when you move it, for example if you wanted to set it to 75 you would turn it and it will jump between 77 and 72, it doesn't seem to be easy to go up in increments of 1.
Either that or I've got an incredibly unsteady hand 🙂, but in a live setting you kinda just want to forget about the controls to a certain extent.
I'll have another look at the tap tempo and see if I can improve the sensitivity.
Thanks again
 
You might want to limit the range for the tempo to e.g. 50-150 or even less. The smaller the range the easier it will be to select a certain value.
 
You can set the tempo at three levels - concert, set (overrides concert) and patch (overrides concert and set). Why not create a new patch or set with the tempo you want - unless these vary from gig to gig?
 
Thanks for that Doug, Yeah I may well end up doing that, my only hesitancy is that with playing mainly soft synths although I do know what patches I will use for each song, I like the freedom to maybe stick something unplanned in as well 🙂
Mainstage is great for this as it allows me to be flexible at the touch of a button however obviously the loops will be more rigid and less flexible, hence why currently I have all my loops created at the top level so they are available to all the patches if that makes sense.
 
hence why currently I have all my loops created at the top level so they are available to all the patches if that makes sense.
Click to expand...

Makes perfect sense - what I'd recommend. That way you can control tempos with patches or sets.

There's also the tap tempo feature as you mentioned - I found it difficult to use as well, although I believe it was improved in later revs of 2.x.
 
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